Hackerspaces nurture creative spirits

By Alejandro Martínez-Cabrera, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published
4:00 am PDT, Saturday, September 11, 2010

Clockwise from front, left-- Isky Haddad from San Francisco, Meg Seidel and Douglas Bass from Texas, and Elizabeth Blackburn from San Francisco at Noisebridge, one of the first hackerspaces in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, August 9, 2010. less

Clockwise from front, left-- Isky Haddad from San Francisco, Meg Seidel and Douglas Bass from Texas, and Elizabeth Blackburn from San Francisco at Noisebridge, one of the first hackerspaces in San Francisco, ... more

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

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Clockwise from front, left-- Isky Haddad from San Francisco, Meg Seidel and Douglas Bass from Texas, and Elizabeth Blackburn from San Francisco at Noisebridge, one of the first hackerspaces in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, August 9, 2010. less

Clockwise from front, left-- Isky Haddad from San Francisco, Meg Seidel and Douglas Bass from Texas, and Elizabeth Blackburn from San Francisco at Noisebridge, one of the first hackerspaces in San Francisco, ... more

Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle

Hackerspaces nurture creative spirits

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In a 5,200-square-foot space overlooking the Mission District and populated with tools, trinkets and comfy couches, people solder circuits, develop rolls of film, experiment with food and make origami.

It's an odd assortment of people but they're hardly out of place in Noisebridge, a hangout spot for anyone who is curious about making and breaking stuff.

Noisebridge is one of the first "hackerspaces" founded in the past two years that are now spreading across the country. What started as four spaces - in New York, Philadelphia, Washington and San Francisco - has now spawned hundreds of similar organizations around the globe.

Noisebridge co-founder Mitch Altman, who has spent about three-fourths of the year traveling to conferences, teaching people how to solder and spreading the word about hackerspaces, said the level of interest is unprecedented and it's only ballooning. A recent one-month trip to the Midwest helped inspire new hackerspaces in Davenport, Iowa, Louisville, Ky. and Madison, Wis., he said.

"It's just a little poke. I love tricking people into doing what they love," he said.

Community hubs

While the word hacker is often used to refer to cyber-criminals, hackerspaces are not meant to be havens for miscreants. Instead, they're loosely defined as community hubs where people of all levels of expertise can explore art, technology and science.

Noisebridge is open to anyone who needs a space to work on personal projects or is just curious about how things work. It holds daily classes on anything from soldering and machine intelligence to sewing and making creme brulee. One class teaches people how to make camera-equipped balloons that can take pictures from outer space - for around $250.

Altman started Noisebridge with co-founder Jacob Applebaum - a hacker involved with WikiLeaks and the online privacy-enhancing Tor software project - with the simple desire of creating a gathering spot for like-minded people.

"When I was growing up, being a geek was worse than it is now. I always wanted a group that felt good to be a part of. In our world at large there is so little precious community and everyone needs it," he said.

Outgrowing space

Noisebridge opened in the Mission District in fall 2008 but outgrew the 1,000-square-foot space in less than three months, sometimes having 100 people in the place at a time. When they moved to their current location at 2169 Mission St. - a former sewing sweatshop - users themselves built the walls and doors, sanded the floors, rewired the electrical circuitry and installed the plumbing for the kitchen.

Now the place is filled with donated items and boasts a machine shop, a dark room, and areas for crafts and electronics.

Resin sculpture

On Thursday, Ellen Ko, who calls herself "The McQueen," worked in the machine room cutting and sanding a rectangular sculpture of polyester clear resin slates that sandwiched a civil demand letter from Whole Foods.

In college, she had access to similar tools but projects were too controlled and she didn't feel free to work on personal plans.

"That's one thing that I like about hackerspaces," she said. "Sometimes you just want to do something, and they enable you to do so."

The place has about 100 registered members and 150 visitors a week. Membership costs $80 a month - or $40 for "starving hackers," it's entirely optional - but anyone can use the space or attend the classes at no cost (membership entitles people to have a voice in the direction of the organization).

"We only have one rule: Be excellent to one another," said Altman, borrowing from the time-traveling comedy "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure." "We take that to heart."

The hackerspace movement has grown to hundreds of similar active or developing spaces around the globe, according to the website Hackerspaces.org.

German roots

It started in 2007 when a group of American geeks traveled to Germany to participate in the Chaos Communication Camp, an international hacker conference that takes place every four years. The American group toured the German hackerspaces, which had been organizing for years, and was immediately inspired.

"German hackers came out and organized around special interest groups. They were intentionally public. Just like a stamp or wood carving club, they invited anyone with an interest in computer technology to come in," said Nick Farr, a hackerspace evangelist who organized the tour to Germany.

Open access

Altman said hackerspaces have existed in the United States since the 1980s, but they were more secretive and difficult to access. The American group returned from Europe determined to create similar spaces that would fling their doors open to their communities and focus on a spirit of inclusiveness.

A place like San Francisco, Farr said, is an obvious location for such a project.

"San Francisco is the home for much of the technology and innovation in the country. And there are incredibly talented people who are focused on building community and being as inclusive as possible. I don't think you'll find a place that has as much talent and spirit as Noisebridge," he said.